Creature of the Night
by DarkAssasin666
Summary: To every action there is a reaction. So what effect does Nimuehs death have on the land? What is released as a result? Does this effect Merlin and Arthur's destiny? Will Merlin ever stop attracting trouble? Probably not...M/A. Rating may increase later on
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first Merlin fic so any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. **

**Disclaimer: No offence or infringement is meant by this blah blah blah, I unfortunately don't own Merlin because if I did Merlin and Arthur would have come out of the closet in the first episode or gone into it **wink wink nudge nudge**.**

It felt electric, pure ecstasy. So much power running through him, Merlin had never felt so alive. Even if he was sitting in the rain next to a now-alive-Gaius. Nimueh lay dead at their feet. No trace of her essence remained in her body. In Merlin's opinion everything was right with the world, if anything was wrong he would have sensed it. And perhaps he would have, if he was paying more attention. When Nimueh died he would have sensed the shockwaves of power dispersing out into the universe, like ripples in a pond, cascading and ricocheting off everything in its path. Nothing in the surrounding area was affected, to the naked eye nothing had changed. Nearly everything in the land remained unaltered. Nearly everything that is. Far away from the Isle, an ancient being awoke.

***

_Two months later_

You would have thought after vanquishing one of the most powerful sorceresses and biggest threat to Camelot that something would have changed? You would have thought after saving his royal pratness AGAINthat he would show a little more respect, gratitude, love… oh wait not love…err…MANLY acknowledgement, yes that's right…But no, not for Merlin. The fact that no one other than Gaius knew about his achievement didn't throw a damper on his frustration. So he was back to menial chores such as mucking out the horses. Being everyone's slop bucket, including the horses as it seems, as one decides to empty its bowels on Merlin's feet. Yes, life was back to normal.

"Merlin? Are you in here?" Called a voice Merlin recognised as his guardians.

"Yeah, back here," Merlin called back from the furthest stall.

"Ah here you are. Glad to see Arthur is keeping you busy and out of trouble though I do think he meant for you clean out the horses using the broom and equipment, not your own clothes."

"Haha very funny. It's not my fault the horses don't like me. They must be as stuck up as their owners. As soon as I'm done here I'll go change and get rid of the stench."

"Oh no you won't. As soon as you're done here I need you to go into the forest and fetch me some wolfs bane, mother root and dragons blood."

"I don't think he'll hand that over and I really don't want another fight."

"Why would Arthur be in the forest with my ingredients?"

"What?"

"What?"

"I was talking about the dragon; you know the one under the castle? I don't think he'll hand over his blood somehow."

"Merlin, your idiocy never ceases to amaze me. Dragons' blood is a plant. That's why you'll find it in the forest. Remind me when you get back to lend you my A-Z guide of plants and their uses. And…. Don't get into any trouble while you're gone." Gaius declares while walking out the way he came.

"Yeah, yeah I'll try." Merlin replied, and then after he was sure the old man was out of earshot he added in a mutter, "Merlin, do this! Merlin, do that! The only reason Camelot is still standing is because of me! I don't attract trouble, this place does!" With that Merlin threw down the broom on the now clean floor, picked up his trusty brown coat off the stall door and headed out to the forest.

"The way he talks its like I can't go anywhere and stay out of danger!"

***

As it turns out, no he couldn't stay out of trouble. Though he wished he could he dodged the giant, black paw aimed at his head. Merlin rolled across the leave covered floor, out of range of the paw and on to his feet a few meters away from it. Now he was standing he could finally get a full view of his attacker.

Crouched on all fours in front of him was the largest cat he'd ever seen and he had seen some pretty overfed ones in the castle. The creature was over seven foot tall when standing on its hind legs. A solid midnight black coat encased its large, muscular form making its sharp, white fangs more striking in contrast. But what was probably most disturbing about the creature, were its eyes. Its eyes were a dark metallic red colour that filled the entire socket. The lack of pupil gave the onlooker the impression they were staring into the eyes of death himself. Seeing it didn't help improve Merlin's state of panic.

The creature was now pacing back and forth, eyes set on Merlin who was keeping perfectly still. He had the sneaking suspicion that it was toying with him. Well it didn't know who it was messing with did it? He was the great and powerful Oz… I mean Merlin. Protector of the innocent. Saviour of Camelot. Washer of Arthurs socks. And there was no Arthur or anyone else around to stop him using magic. Merlin breathed in as he focused his powers and searched his mind for a spell. As if sensing what the boy was about to do, the monster leapt, claws and fangs at the ready. At the last moment, Merlin flung out his arm and power at the beast, eyes flashing gold.

"Tritious!"

A flash of light erupted from Merlin's hand, hitting the cat square in the chest, sending it back a few paces on to its back. Throwing his hands up in excitement, Merlin let out a cry of triumph. Unfortunately his success was premature as the creature quickly righted itself with no sign of injury. As it turned its attention back to him, Merlin felt cold hand of fear clutch at his chest. This creature could not be harmed by magic!

_I am so screwed! _Merlin couldn't stop himself from thinking as it turned its disturbing eyes back on him. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Heart in his mouth, jumping over unearthed roots and weaving through the trees, Merlin fled for his life. In addition to the wind rushing past his ears, he could hear the rustle of leaves and the pounding of the earth as the creature sprinted after him. Merlin was fast on his feet but the creature was faster. He didn't try to look behind him; it would only slow him down and risk tripping over some unseen obstacle. There was no point anyway, he could hear it getting closer, hell, he could feel the power radiating onto his skin.

The sound of their movement must have alarmed a bird, for one flew up into the air squawking, to his left. Merlin was distracted for only a second, but in that second he took his eyes off where he was going. He realised something was wrong when he could no longer feel the ground under his feet. He continued to run in midair for a moment before gravity kicked in and dragged him back to earth, over the precipitous and down an extremely steep slope. Roots, leaves and earth snatched at Merlin while he equally tried to grab them back in order to slow down his fall. Despite his attempts, Merlin continued to roll down the hill at an alarming speed. In no time at he hit the bottom, his back taking the brunt of the force. Grimacing at the pain now flooding through his back, he tried to move, to get up. He couldn't, the pain was too much. Paralysed, all he could do was look up into the green and yellow canopy of the trees that surrounded him. There was nothing he could do as the creature jumped over the edge, into his line of sight and thundering towards him. He was going to die.

**A/N: Should I continue? Mwaha I'm mean with the cliff hangers! **


	2. Chapter 2

Teeth, fangs, all long and sharp heading straight for him. Its eyes were locked on him, getting bigger and bigger as it came closer. Merlin felt his heart beating forcefully in his chest as if it were trying to escape his fate by breaking through his ribs. It didn't work. Nothing of his was going anywhere apart from his soul to the next world.

The creature was an arms reach away from him when a black blur darted into view, colliding with it in midair. The force was enough to make it crash into the ground next to Merlin, throwing up earth into the air. The young warlock chocked and struggled to move away, but lungs and body screamed in protest. Through watering eyes, he could see the large cat being wrestled by what appeared to be a smaller version of it self. The smaller version was thrown off, landing on its back to the side of the creature. The larger one swiftly righted itself and pounced on the smaller form, but at the last second the smaller one rolled quickly and on to its hind legs. Clearing his eyes with frantic blinking revealed that the new addition was not a smaller version of his attacker. It was in fact a person dressed in the strangest armour he'd ever seen. The armour, if you could call it that for it was certainly not made of metal but a black snake skin-like material which covered the wearer seamlessly and completely. None of the warrior's skin was visible, not even his eyes which were replaced by the same pupil-less, red, metallic ones of the creature. Even his swords sheaths added to the similarity by being black and either strapped to his back or hanging from the belt at his waist, giving the illusion of a tail.

The creature let out a vengeful roar before charging at Merlin's new defender. The defender ran from the creature, keeping only a stride or two in front of it, towards a tree. Instead of running into it, he ran up the tree, using the momentum to flip over the creature. Once in the air he pulled his sword out and sunk it into and down the creatures back as he fell back to earth. Blood flowed heavily down its back, matting its fur. The cat let out a blood curdling howl and then turned to face its attacker, seething with outrage. The creature jumped, paw raised and prepared to strike the human with its full weight behind it. In a blink of an eye the warrior spun around, sword catching and slicing the creatures throat while sending him out from beneath it. Just before the monster crashed to the floor Merlin could have sworn a metallic mist rushed out its eyes and nostrils and darted out of sight. The mutilated cat now lay motionless at the stranger's feet.

Merlin tried once again to sit up and look around, but was met with blinding pain shooting throughout his body. He didn't have time suppress the cry escaping his lips. Before he even sunk back to the earth the stranger was at his side, placing a hand under his head to prevent him hitting it on the ground.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" A voice leaked out from under the mask.

"Yes" Merlin gasped.

"Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"Everywhere. It hurts even more when I move."

"Does it hurt to breath?"

"No"

"Do you feel nauseas or light headed?"

"No. Just pain. And a little tired."

"Can you wiggle your toes?"

"What?"

"Can you wiggle your toes? Please try."

"Alright…" Merlin replied suspiciously. He then gingerly wiggled his toes and was rewarded for his effort with another bout of pain. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh! S*********##**Ak!"

"Oh good."

"Oh good? You like the fact that I'm in pain? Are you some sort of sadistic saviour?"

"No. It's just better than _not_ being able to move your toes. Pain is probably just bruising or jarring of the spinal column instead of a break which would mean permanent paralysis. No nausea or other symptoms means that there is no organ damage so your not going to die which is a shame as it _really _puts a damper on my twisted angel of death complex." The stranger said in a scathing enough tone to make Merlin look ashamed. "I think its best if you just lie there and try not to move. We'll try and get you back to; I'm assuming Camelot, in the morning. Hopefully by then you'll be able to move without too much pain."

"I need to get back…"

"It's not going to happen. Even if you were fine, which your _not, _it would take hours to walk around this cliff and back to Camelot, by which point it will be dark. I better get a fire going before that happens. Don't want you freezing to death eh?" And with that the stranger turned and disappeared from Merlin's sight.

Over the next hour Merlin lay on the floor and watched as the figure flickered in and out of view, collecting firewood for the ever growing fire. At some point he returned with a chestnut horse carrying bags and equipment. By the time the fire was in full swing, night had fallen. The golden glow reminded him of Arthur's hair. He wondered if he was gonna see him again or if he was stay in this forest forever. As soon as the thought passed through his he mentally chastised himself for being melodramatic and physically shook it off. His new companion mistook the reason for shiver and draped a blue, fur lined cloak over him before asking:

"Any better?"

"Hu? What?" Merlin spluttered, mentally shaking the image of Arthur and pointy things out of his mind.

"I said, any better?"

"Yes, thank you. The pain isn't as bad now."

"Good. Would you like something to eat?"

"Yes please. I'm famished."

"I can tell. Has anything ever passed those lips of yours? You're so skinny."

"Yes. Lots of things have passed these lips. Some of them quite filling. I'm just very active and burn it all off!" The stranger cocked his head making Merlin blush as he realised what he had just implied.

"Then I suppose meat won't be a problem for you." The stranger replied, standing up and pulling a knife from a belt hanging round his waist. The belt, in addition to knives and a sword also supported little bags containing items Merlin could only imagine. Now that he was closer the young warlock was able to discern that contrary to his original thought of the suit covering the his entire body there were in fact boots of black, worn leather covering his feet into which the suit was tucked. He could also now see an old, gold ring with a picture of a bat and a dragon being separated by two crossed swords on his left hand.

Dragging his eyes away from the ring, Merlin saw that he was heading toward the now cold and dead creature.

"Are you seriously gonna eat that?"

"Do you see anything else lying around? I assure you its perfectly safe, tastes a bit funky though. Mixture of cinnamon and cheese, the type of cheese varies with the animal. I hope this isn't applewood. I hate applewood."

"How do you know that? How can it vary with the animal? Does that mean that there are more like it? Who are you? And what the _hell_ does applewood taste like?"

"Breath or you going to pass out. Right, ok in order. I've been hunting this thing a while and it jumps from host to host changing and mutilating it as it goes. It kills anything and everything in its path. Zarael. Dunno, just know it makes me want to vomit as soon as it touches my tongue."

Merlin stared into those creepy red eyes for a moment while matching his questions to the answers.

"Wait, so your name is Zarael?"

"Out of what I just told you, that's what you question? Yes my name is Zarael. Zarael Mordant. And you would be?"

"Merlin of Eldor."

"As in Emrys?"

A cold shiver went down his spine and settled as a lump of dread in his stomach. "Err…No"

"Oh, my mistake. Get some rest. We travel at first light." And with that, Zarael slunk off into the shadows leaving Merlin to think over his day.


End file.
